VIDEO: 400 cheer GOP Senate candidate Scott Brown at Quincy rally

The two candidates seeking the U.S. Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy are holding a series of rallies throughout the weekend, as the outcome remains hotly contested. State Sen. Scott Brown began the day with a stop in Quincy and then headed for Plymouth and Hyannis. Attorney Gen. Martha Coakley planned stops on the North Shore and added a late morning rally in Plymouth.

A crowd of 400 cheering supporters welcomed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown to Quincy Center this morning. Brown, a state senator, was accompanied by former GOP Gov. William Weld and former Quincy Mayor Frank McCauley.

“I’m here because of spending, taxes and jobs,” Weld told the orderly rally on the lawn at Thomas Crane Public Library. Police Sgt. Stephen Igo estimated the crowd at 400 people.

The former Republican chief executive cited his own record of cutting taxes and and said Brown would do the same.

“The people understand this is about self preservation and survival, and Scott Brown understands that,” Weld said. The former Cambridge resident lives in New York City.

"This race is about differences,” Brown said. “It’s not about personalities.” He said he and Coakley stood apart on health care, taxes, spending, terrorism, and “how we treat enemy combatants.”

Both Brown and his opponent, Democratic state Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley, are making all-out efforts over the weekend and on Monday to get every last vote possible. Coakley added a campaign rally in Plymouth to her Saturday schedule.

Brown brought his “Bold New Leadership Bus Tour” to the South Shore for much of Saturday. He headed to Plymouth and Hyannis after finishing up in Quincy about 10:30 a.m.

Coakley pulled out the stops on her own “Fighting For You” tour, with a series of rallies, community visits, and other campaign events. She was accompanied by Vicki Kennedy, the wife of the late senator

Brown used a large chart to charge that Coakley's campaign pledges and positions would add some $2.1 trillion in taxes over next five years. He also predicted she would also add a bank tax that would run $25 billion.

Brown criticized Coakley for a negative campaign that had “gone from cordial to one of the most malicious, destructive campaigns in the history of Massachusetts.”

Weld, governor from 1991 to 1997, cited his record of 21 tax cuts and no tax increases and said “the people in Massachusetts have spending fatigue and tax fatigue.”